He’s likely pushing it legally by even discussing the matter at all, let alone in a negative light.
We are always watching when out on the water, especially around dusk. Even have seen gators swimming in the ocean along the shore line.
That being said, for a tourist coming down, visiting the resort, and seeing a sandy beach going down to the water, they won’t think twice about wading in the water. They’re not swimming after all.
Raise the beach line, put in a sea wall and low fence. Yes it ruins the ambiance but it will save lives.
I agree.
If you legally payoff someone to keep their mouth shut, and they renege, I am sure there is a legal "clawback" method that can be used to retrieve the money or a portion of it.
Unfortunately for Disney that would leave them open to more widespread bad publicity in the public's eye. - Tom
If he was a minor at the time of the settlement, and any potential NDA signed by his parents, then he's not bound by it at all.
The existence of the incident is public knowledge.
The book "Disney: The Mouse Betrayed" relates the following incident: "On October 10, 1986, eight-year-old Paul Santamaria and his family were staying at the Walt Disney World campgrounds for a quiet vacation. Paul went down to the pond with some old bread to feed the ducks. An alligator lunged from the water and grabbed him by the leg. Paul desperately fought to keep from being pulled under the water and eventually freed himself, and survived. Paul's father asked the company to pay his son's medical bills from the attack. 'They flat out refused to admit that Paul had been bit,' says Orlando attorney, John Overchuck, who represented them. Only after he threatened to make an alligator tooth 'Exhibit A' in a civil suit did the company agree to pay up."The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - Mar 11, 2008
'GATOR NIPS BOY AT DISNEY WORLDThe Indianapolis Star - October 13, 1986 (p.3)
Eight-year-old Paul Santamaria of Bristol. N.H., was reported in satisfactory condition Sunday after treatment for superficial wounds left by a 7-foot-4-inch alligator at a Walt Disney World campground. The boy's mother. Roberta Santamaria, said, "It was frightening, but . . . we're very fortunate It wasn't worse." She said Paul was attacked when the alligator waddled out of the water as the boy watched ducks on a small pond where several canals end. The alligator was shot later by game commission agents, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday. Disney spokesman Bob Mervine said he thought it was the first such attack at the theme park in Orlando. Fla.
“It happened to me, 30 years ago,” he seethed. “It was disheartening to hear.”
The reason he spoke out is that authorities said it never happened before. It happened to him in 1986, and it's a fact that he wants people to know about. Facts are facts, and the authorities are white-washing away his ordeal.